Mere Fidelity

Send Us A Message Send Us A Message C.S. Lewis is an odd figure. Beloved, cited, and recruited by both progressive and conservative Christians, his works have a very broad appeal. The very fact of this broad appeal raises questions about his legacy. Alastair, Derek, and Matt examine this phenomenon and how Lewis is read both in fundamentalist America and evangelical Britain. Full show notes at www...

Send Us A Message Professor Oliver O’Donovan joins Matt and Derek once more. This time they discuss the relationship of Christian belief and practice to the contemporary political realities of our world. Do we need a new constitution? What’s to be done about the current wars? How can we properly utilize passion and reason in elections? Mere Fidelity is a podcast from Mere Orthodoxy and is listener...

Send Us A Message Derek and Alistair discuss the ways in which the Old Testament is used in the book of Acts: by the author in structuring the narrative, and also by the apostles to shape the identity and mission of the early church. Christ is the center of it all.  Mere Fidelity is a podcast from Mere Orthodoxy and is listener-supported. If you would like to support this work, become a Mere Ortho...

Send Us A Message For generations of evangelicals lacking good catechesis, Martin Luther is often seen as a primitive, unsophisticated, or backwards reformer. Into this negative environment, Dr. Todd Hains is bringing forth the richness of Luther’s thought and Lutheranism’s tradition. There is so much more than just justification by faith. Alastair and Matt discuss with Dr. Hains his latest book,...

Send Us A Message Have you ever encountered a passage of the Bible that confused you?  Sometimes we get hung up on a book's origin, wrestle with its meaning, question its relevance, or simply dislike what it teaches. In this episode, Alistair and Derek discuss approaching complex passages faithfully without undermining the challenge.  Mere Fidelity is a podcast from Mere Orthodoxy and is list...

Send Us A Message Therapy culture (not therapy itself) has gotten way out of hand. Too many of life's normal vicissitudes are treated as mental illnesses. How do we avoid the extremes of medicalizing morality or moralizing medicine? How's a pastor to navigate this issue? Matthew Loftus, M.D., joins Derek, James, and Brad to discuss this sticky, hot-topic issue. Mere Fidelity is a podcast...

Send Us A Message Andrew Wilson returns to the podcast! He joins Brad and Alistair to discuss the idea of Christian happiness, not only in the world to come, but in this world also. His latest book is entitled Happiness: What It Is, Where to Find It, and How to Make It Last Forever. Mere Fidelity is a podcast from Mere Orthodoxy and is listener-supported. If you would like to support this work, be...

Send Us A Message Derek and Alastair unpack just what makes the Gospel of John so unique and different from the other gospels. They identify major structures, hidden themes, and huge overlap with the very beginning and the very ending of the Bible.  Mere Fidelity is a podcast from Mere Orthodoxy and is listener-supported. If you would like to support this work, become a Mere Orthodoxy Member today...

Send Us A Message Brad East and a panel of special guests gather to remember the life, work, and unique legacy of Wendell Berry, who recently passed away at the age of 92.  Mere Fidelity is a podcast from Mere Orthodoxy and is listener-supported. If you would like to support this work, become a Mere Orthodoxy Member today at http://mereorthodoxy.com/membership . Get 30% off the Baker Book of the M...

Send Us A Message Dr. Patrick Schreiner joins Derek and Alistair to discuss the four ways that the church fathers read Scripture and how we read it today. Mere Fidelity is a podcast from Mere Orthodoxy and is listener-supported. If you would like to support this work, become a Mere Orthodoxy Member today at http://mereorthodoxy.com/membership . Get 30% off the Baker Book of the Month by going to:...

Send Us A Message Bonnie Kristian, deputy editor at Christianity Today, joins Derek, Brad, and Alistair to talk about why evangelicals are so uniquely hated in contemporary society, whether it is deserved, and what we should do about it.  Mere Fidelity is a podcast from Mere Orthodoxy and is listener-supported. If you would like to support this work, become a Mere Orthodoxy Member today at http://...

Send Us A Message Derek, James, Brad, and Alistair discuss the major and minor figures of the very influential Yale School in post-liberal theology. These are the voices that called for the church to speak in its native language and not to accommodate to the culture. Is their influence over, or does their voice yet speak? Mere Fidelity is a podcast from Mere Orthodoxy and is listener-supported. If...

Send Us A Message Is there any hope of recovering real masculinity? Not the toxic type you hear about or the shallow performative type of manhood you see online. Real, Biblical, virtuous manhood. The Mere Fidelity cast and crew flip the script, so to speak, in this episode.  Mere Fidelity is a podcast from Mere Orthodoxy and is listener-supported. If you would like to support this work, become a M...

Send Us A Message In what may be a Mere Fidelity first, the guys discuss a current popular movie--The Odyssey by Christopher Nolan. It's said that art holds up a mirror to culture. What do Derek, Brad, and Alistair see when they look into this post-Christian, pre-pagan, ambiguous adaptation? Mere Fidelity is a podcast from Mere Orthodoxy and is listener-supported. If you would like to support...

Send Us A Message Matt, Derek, and Alastair discuss the struggles and misconceptions surrounding prayer: how prayer becomes burdensome, prayer has experiencing God in a veiled way, and what petitions in prayer should we not ask for? Mere Fidelity is a podcast from Mere Orthodoxy and is listener-supported. If you would like to support this work, become a Mere Orthodoxy Member today at http://mereor...

Send Us A Message What hath Enlightenment Liberalism wrought? According to Dr. Yoram Hazony, chairman of the Edmund Burke Foundation, it has led us to the place we are today where Neo-Marxism is ascendant and we cannot conceive a higher good than consent. What’s the alternative? National Conservatism. Listen to this lively conversation with Derek, Alastair, Matt, and Dr. Hazony.  Mere Fidelity is...

Send Us A Message How can each subsequent generation both be making more money and be considerably less wealthy? The answer is obvious. The solution may not be.  Mere Fidelity is a podcast from Mere Orthodoxy and is listener-supported. If you would like to support this work, become a Mere Orthodoxy Member today at http://mereorthodoxy.com/membership . Get 30% off the Baker Book of the Month by goi...

Send Us A Message One of conservatism's brightest policy minds, Yuval Levin, joins us to talk about his book *The Fractured Republic.* — Mere Fidelity is a podcast from Mere Orthodoxy and is listener-supported. If you would like to support this work, become a Mere Orthodoxy Member today at http://mereorthodoxy.com/membership . Get 30% of the Baker Book of the Month, The Pursuit of Character:...

Send us Fan Mail How often do you think about denominations? Is this the way Jesus meant for the church to be? Are we actually united without realizing it? Derek, Brad, and Alistair examine the pros and cons of denominations, poke at Rome a little, and pursue authentic catholicity.   — Mere Fidelity is a podcast from Mere Orthodoxy and is listener-supported. If you would like to support this work,...

Send us Fan Mail If you only read what you know you'll agree with, how will you learn? But if you read something from another theological tradition, do you risk weakening your faith? In this episode, James Wood and Joseph Minich explore the importance of reading widely across Christian traditions, the role of ecumenism, and how to deepen your understanding within one's own tradition whil...

Send us Fan Mail Derek and Brad interview each other about their foundational theological influences. Which thinkers gave them that spark? How did looking at footnotes lead to unexpected discoveries? What surprising influences led to drastic decisions? By looking at twists and turns that God used to bring them to the understanding they have now, you will be able to examine better what God is doing...

Send us Fan Mail Last month Pope Leo XIV published his first encyclical, titled Magnifica Humanitas , which addresses generative AI and the challenges it raises for human dignity, education, just war, good work, and much more. On this episode guest Brad Littlejohn joins regular co-hosts Derek Rishmawy and Brad East to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the encyclical as well as a host of othe...

Send us Fan Mail A lot of us want institutions to be clean, brave, and instantly fixed and then we join one, try to lead, and discover the painful math of limited power, limited time, and real people. We take that tension head-on by talking about what we’re calling the “Elijah syndrome”: the outsider’s sense that the whole system is compromised and that faithfulness can only exist at a distance. -...

Send us Fan Mail 1776 gets treated like a patriotic shorthand, but it also works like a master key for the modern world. We sit down with Andrew Wilson to talk about Remaking the World and why one crowded year can illuminate the rise of the post-Christian West better than a thousand hot takes about the last decade. We unpack Andrew’s “WEIRDER” framework (Western, educated, industrialized, rich, de...

Send us Fan Mail Idolatry is one of those Bible words that can feel obvious until you try to use it carefully. We live far from Baal temples, yet we still talk about idols constantly and sometimes we label everything as an idol until the word loses its bite. Derek and Alastair slow down and rebuild the category from the ground up, starting where Scripture starts: the Ten Commandments, the golden c...